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I'm an international student from India and I've been offered admission to Duke and USC for an MS in BME. I've spoken to a lot of people from both colleges, and I seem to get the general idea that USC is a great place primarily because of its location in California where there are a lot of BT/Biomed companies. But I'm still pretty torn between them, since Duke has a great program and offers me the flexibility to really explore what I like. As somebody who wants to enter the industry, I'm not sure if I should pick the much lower ranked program/good location, or great program/okay location. Any sights?

Hi All,
I was recently accepted into Duke and Brown's EE PhD programs. Although I will likely be doing EE, my mind is not 100% set and I can potentially jump into MechE or BioE if I have the opportunity.
As my ultimate goal is to create a technological startup based on the projects I do in grad school, the geography really matters. Duke is right by the Research Triangle Park, which can be great if I want to learn about what other companies are doing and talk to different kinds of scientists about research ideas. Duke is also famous for its biomed so I can do something Bio related. On the other hand, Brown is only an hour away from Boston, which is also great for entrepreneurs. Although Brown also has a medical school, it is not as esteemed as Duke, and I don't know what other subjects are good at Brown. But Brown has the PRIME masters program which facilitates grad students with the basics of startups.
Thank you for your time. Please help me compare and contrast which school and its geography will be better for a startup, or just general information about the schools and programs will be appreciated.
Some basic information about me: I lived in Texas for ~7 years so I am more familiar with the southern culture and warm weather, I've never lived in the north before, I don't really know how to handle cold weather, but I found new England culture interesting and charming.